Apparatus and method for phonetically screening predetermined character strings

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for phonetically screening predetermined character strings. The apparatus includes a text-to-speech module, and a phonetic screening module in communication with the text-to-speech module. The phonetic screening module is for replacing a first character string with a second character string based on a phonetic enunciation by the text-to-speech module of the first character string.

CROSS-REFERNECE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates generally to text-to-speech applicationsand, more particularly, to apparatuses and methods for phoneticallyscreening predetermined character strings.

2. Description of the Background

Some advanced telecommunications services provide for the audibleenunciation to the called party of the name of the calling party. Forexample, according to a talking call waiting (TCW) service, if thecalled party receives an incoming call when it is already participatingin another call, the called party may press a key on the keypad of thetelephone to receive an audible enunciation of the subscriber nameassociated with the calling party. In addition, according to an audiocalling name (ACN) service, the called party is provided an audibleenunciation of the subscriber name associated with the calling party foran incoming call. The called party may then be played a messageprompting the called party to, for example, either accept the incomingcall, reject the call, or forward it to a voice messaging system.

With either of these exemplary telecommunications services, or any othersimilar service, because of data storage limitations, the subscribername of the calling party is typically truncated to approximatelyfifteen characters, although the billing name associated with thecalling party may be as great as fifty characters or more. Consequently,in some instances the truncated form of the calling party's name may beunacceptable in, for example, an etiquette sense, for phoneticenunciation to the called party.

Accordingly, there exists a need for a manner in which certainpredetermined character strings, which are unacceptable for phoneticenunciation, may be replaced with more appropriate character strings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to an apparatus for phoneticallyscreening predetermined character strings. According to one embodiment,the apparatus includes a text-to-speech module, and a phonetic screeningmodule in communication with the text-to-speech module. The phoneticscreening module is for replacing a first character string with a secondcharacter string based on a phonetic enunciation by the text-to-speechmodule of the first character string.

The apparatus of the present invention may be used, for example, toscreen predetermined character strings which are phoneticallyinappropriate to be voiced to an intended listener. For example, thepresent invention may be used in the provision of telecommunicationsservices in which the name of, for example, a present or prior callingparty, is voiced to a listener. Such telecommunications servicesinclude, for example, taking call waiting (TCW), audio calling name(ACN), and audio call return (ACR). Because the name of the callingparty stored in a network database of a telephone network is typically atruncated form of the calling party's true name due to data storagelimitations, the present invention may be employed to prevent theenunciation to the listener of truncated names that are inappropriate.For example, the apparatus of the present invention may be used tophonetically screen expletives or other unflattering words.

In addition to telecommunications services, benefits of the presentinvention may also be realized in other applications in which textcontent is to be voiced to a listener. Such other applications include,for example, the conversion of electronic mail or word processing textdocuments to speech for delivery to a listener over a network such as,for example, the Internet or a telephone network.

These and other benefits of the present invention will be apparent fromthe detailed description hereinbelow.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

For the present invention to be clearly understood and readilypracticed, the present invention will be described in conjunction withthe following figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus for phonetically screeningpredetermined character strings according to one embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the process of generating substitutecharacter strings for phonetically screened character strings accordingto one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) forintegration with a public switched telephone network;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the intelligent peripheral (IP) device ofthe AIN of FIG. 3 according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the communications network according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a method of providing a talkingcall waiting (TCW) service with phonetic screening with the network ofFIG. 5 according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a method of providing an audiocall return (ACR) service with phonetic screening with the network ofFIG. 5 according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a network according to another embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the presentinvention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevantfor a clear understanding of the present invention, while eliminating,for purposes of clarity, other elements. For example, certain operatingsystem details and modules of certain of the intelligent platforms arenot described herein. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize,however, that these and other elements may be desirable in a typicalcommunications network. However, because such elements are well known inthe art, and because they do not facilitate a better understanding ofthe present invention, a discussion of such elements is not providedherein.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus 10 according to one embodimentof the present invention for phonetically screening predeterminedcharacter strings that are to be audibly enunciated. The apparatus 10includes a phonetic screening module 12 and a text-to-speech (TTS)module 14. The apparatus 10, as discussed further hereinbelow, receivesa character string and outputs a corresponding audible enunciation ofthe character string via a speaker device 16 in communication with theapparatus 10. The phonetic screening module 12, as described furtherhereinbelow, may replace certain of the received character strings withsubstitute character strings based on phonetic screening of the receivedcharacter strings.

The apparatus 10 may be implemented on an intelligent platform such as,for example, a computer, such as a workstation or a personal computer, amicroprocessor, a network server, or an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC). According to another embodiment as described furtherhereinbelow, the apparatus 10 may be implemented on an intelligentperipheral (IP) device of an intelligent telecommunications network,such as a service node of an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN).

The modules 12, 14 may be implemented as software code to be executed bythe apparatus 10 using any type of computer instruction type suitablesuch as, for example, microcode, and may be stored in, for example, anelectrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), or can beconfigured into the logic of the apparatus 10. According to anotherembodiment, the modules 12, 14 may be implemented as software code to beexecuted by the system 10 using any suitable computer language such as,for example, Java, C or C++ using, for example, conventional orobject-oriented techniques. The software code may be stored as a seriesof instructions or commands on a computer readable medium, such as arandom access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a magnetic mediumsuch as a hard-drive or a floppy disk, or an optical medium such as aCD-ROM. According to one embodiment, the modules 12, 14 may reside onseparate physical devices.

The speaker device 16 may be implemented as, for example, a transducerthat converts electrical energy, such as an electrical signal from theTFS module 14, into mechanical energy at audio frequencies. According toone embodiment, the speaker device 16 may be included, for example, in atelephone, such as a landline telephone or a wireless telephone.According to such an embodiment, the speaker device 16 may be incommunication with the apparatus 10 via a communications networkincluding, individually or in combination, a wireline network or awireless network. The communications network may include, for example,individually or in combination, a plain old telephone system (POTS), apublic switched telephone network (PSTN), a wireless telephone network,the Internet, an intranet, a LAN, or a WAN, using, for example,packet-switching or circuit-switching transmission modes. According toanother embodiment, the speaker device 16 may be hard-wired to the TTSmodule 14 and/or may be physically included with the apparatus 10.

According to one embodiment, the phonetic screening module 12 includes atable of character strings and corresponding replacement strings. Whenthe apparatus 10 receives a character string, the phonetic screeningmodule 12 compares the received character string with the entries in thetable. If the received character string is not included in the table,the character string is forwarded to the TTS module 14 for enunciation.Conversely, if the received character string is included in the table,the phonetic screening module 12 forwards the corresponding substitutecharacter string for the received character string to the TTS module 14for enunciation.

The apparatus 10 may receive the character strings, for example, from adatabase in communication with the apparatus 10. For example, asdescribed further hereinbelow, the database may be a telecommunicationsnetwork database in communication with the apparatus 10. According toanother embodiment, the character strings may be received from anotherapplication running on the apparatus 10 such as, for example, anelectronic mail (e-mail) or a word processing application, where thetext of an e-mail document or a word processing document is to be voicedover the speaker device 16.

The TTS module 14 may include text-to-speech translation capabilities toconvert text, such as the character strings received from the phoneticscreening module 12, into voice output using speech synthesistechniques. The speech synthesis conversion techniques may convert textto speech in real time and without a predefined vocabulary. The speechoutput may be communicated to the speaker device 16 for audibleenunciation. According to one embodiment, the TTS module 14 may beimplemented with commercially-available software/DSP boards from, forexample, Dialogic Corporation, Parsippany, N.J., or Lucent Technologies,Inc., Murray Hill, N.J.

The apparatus 10 of the present invention permits phoneticallyinappropriate character strings to be replaced with more appropriatesubstitute character strings before being audibly enunciated to alistener. Such a capability may be beneficial in an application wherethe character string received by the apparatus 10 is a truncated form ofa longer character string, and the truncated character string isinappropriate when enunciated. For example, the truncated characterstring may be an expletive or a phonetic variation of the expletive. Inaddition, the truncated character string, although not an expletive, maybe unflattering to the listener or a third party. The phonetic screeningmodule 12 of the present invention permits these inappropriate characterstrings to be replaced with a more appropriate character string. Themore appropriate character string may include, for example, nocharacters, one character, or a plurality of characters.

One embodiment of the process of generating the table of the phoneticscreening module 12 is described in conjunction with the flow chartdiagram of FIG. 2. The process initiates at block 20, where a list ofinappropriate character strings is generated. As discussed hereinbefore,the inappropriate character strings may be, for example, expletives orunflattering words. The list may be generated in part based on theapplication in which the apparatus 10 is intended to be used. Forexample, certain character strings may be inappropriate in someapplications but acceptable for others. In addition, the list may begenerated in part based on the parameters of the TTS module 14. Forexample, where a particular character string is susceptible to twopossible pronunciations, one of which is inappropriate, the characterstring may be included in the list if, according to the manner in whichthe TTS module 14 is programmed, the TTS module 14 would output theinappropriate pronunciation.

From block 20, the process advances to block 22, where phoneticequivalents of the inappropriate character strings are generated. Forexample, if at block 22 it is determined that “cat” is an inappropriatecharacter string, the inappropriate phonetic equivalents may be, forexample, “catt”, “kat”, and “katt”.

From block 22, the process advances to block 24, where a substitutecharacter string is generated for each inappropriate character stringand its phonetic equivalents. According to one embodiment, theinappropriate character string may have a separate substitute characterstring than certain of its phonetic equivalents. According to anotherembodiment, the inappropriate character string may have the samesubstitute character string as its phonetic equivalents. The substitutecharacter strings may consist of, for example, zero characters, onecharacter, or a number of characters.

Accordingly, whenever the apparatus 10 receives a character string, thephonetic screening module 12 compares the received character string withthe listing of inappropriate character strings and their phoneticequivalents. If there is a match, the phonetic screening module 12replaces the received character string with the substitute characterstring associated with the inappropriate character string. Thesubstitute character string may then be forwarded to the TTS module 14for enunciation.

As discussed hereinbefore, the apparatus 10 of the present invention maybe used in providing telecommunications service. FIG. 3 is diagram of atelecommunications network according to such an embodiment. FIG. 3 is ablock diagram of an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) 30 forintegration with a public switched telephone network (PSTN). The AIN 30may be employed by a Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) servicing a LocalAccess and Transport Area (LATA) of the PSTN, and may be utilized by theLEC to allow the LEC to provide call processing features and servicesthat are not embedded within conventional switching circuits of thePSTN.

A typical LEC includes a number of central office (CO) switches forinterconnecting customer premises terminating equipment with the PSTN.For an LEC including the AIN 30 as illustrated in FIG. 3, the centraloffice switches may be provided as Service Switching Points (SSP)switches 32. The dashed line 34 between the SSP switches 32 indicatesthat the number of SSP switches 32 in the AIN 30 may vary depending onthe particular requirements of the AIN 30. The AIN 30 may also include anon-SSP switch 36. The difference between the SSP switches 32 and thenon-SSP switch 36 is that the SSP switches 32 provide intelligentnetwork functionality. Interconnecting the SSP switches 32 and thenon-SSP switch 36 are communication links 38, which may be, for example,trunk circuits.

Each SSP switch 32 and non-SSP switch 36 has a number of subscriberlines 40 connected thereto. The subscriber lines 40 may be, for example,conventional twisted pair loop circuits connected between the switches32, 36 and the telephone drops for the customer premises, or thesubscriber lines 40 may be trunk circuits, such as T-1 trunk circuits.Typically, the number of subscriber lines 40 connected to each switch32, 36 is on the order of ten thousand to one hundred thousand lines.Each of the subscriber lines 40 is connected to a terminating piece ofcustomer premises equipment, represented in FIG. 3 by the landlinetelephones 42. Alternatively, the terminating equipment may be, forexample, a telecopier, a personal computer, a modem, or a private branchexchange (PBX) switching system.

For the AIN 30 illustrated in FIG. 3, each SSP switch 32 and the non-SSPswitch 36 is connected to a signal transfer point (STP) 44 via acommunication link 46. The communication link 46 may employ, forexample, an SS7 switching protocol. The STP 44 may be a multi-port highspeed packet switch that is programmed to respond to the routinginformation in the appropriate layer of the switching protocol, androute the data packets to their intended destination.

One of the intended destinations of the data packets from the STP 44 isa service control point (SCP) 48. The STP 44 is in communication withthe SCP 48 via a communication link 50, which may also employ the SS7switching protocol. The SCP 48 may be an intelligent database serversuch as, for example, an Intelligent Network Service Control Pointavailable from Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, N.J. The SCP 48may have associated with it a network database 52 for storing networkdata. The intelligent functionality of the SCP 48 may be realized byapplication programs, such as Service Program Applications (SPAs), whichare run by the SCP 48. The SCP 48 is normally employed to implement highvolume routing services, such as call forwarding and 800 numbertranslation and routing. The SCP 48 may also be used for maintenance ofand providing access to the network databases for authorization ofbilling, such as credit card validations. In addition, another of thefunctions of the SCP-48 is maintenance of the network database 52, whichmay store subscriber information, such as customer names, used inproviding enhanced calling services. Such enhanced calling services mayinclude talking call waiting (TCW), audio calling name (ACN), and audiocall return (e.g. *69).

The AIN 30 illustrated in FIG. 3 also includes an intelligent peripheral(IP) device 54. The IP device 54 may be, for example, a service nodesuch as a Compact Service Node (CSN) available from Lucent TechnologiesInc., Murray Hill, N.J., although the IP device 54 may be any otherAIN-compliant IP device such as, for example, an AIN/IP (IntelligentPeripheral) device available from Nortel Networks Corp., Montreal,Quebec. The IP device 54 may be connected to one or more of the SSPswitches 32 via a communications link 56, which may be, for example, anIntegrated Service Digital Network (ISDN) including BRI (Basic RateInterface) or PRI (Primary Rate Interface) lines. According to otherembodiments, the communications link 56 may be, for example, a T-1 trunkcircuit.

The IP device 54 may be used primarily when some enhanced feature orservice is needed that requires an audio connection to the call such as,for example, the call return and calling name services, or when transferof a significant amount of data to a subscriber over a switchedconnection during or following a call is required. Similar to the SCP48, the intelligent functionality of the IP device 54 may be realized byprogram applications executable by the IP device 54. For example, forapplications in which information is to be enunciated to a user of thetelephone 42, the IP device 54 may include the apparatus 10 of thepresent invention, as described further hereinbelow.

In order to keep the processing of data and calls as simple as possibleat the switches, such as at the SSP switches 32, a set of triggers maybe defined at the SSP switches 32 for each call. A trigger in an AIN isan event associated with a particular subscriber line 40 that generatesa data packet to be sent from the SSP switch 32 servicing the particularsubscriber line 40 to the SCP 48 via the STP 44. The triggers may beoriginating triggers for calls originating from the subscriber premisesor terminating triggers for calls terminating at the subscriberpremises. A trigger causes a message in the form of a query to be sentfrom the SSP switch 32 to the SCP 48. The SCP 48 in turn interrogatesthe database 52 to determine whether some customized call feature orenhanced service should be implemented for the particular call, orwhether conventional dial-up telephone service should be provided. Theresults of the database inquiry are sent back from the SCP 48 to the SSPswitch 32 via the STP 44. The return packet includes instructions to theSSP switch 32 as to how to process the call. The instructions may be totake some special action as result of a customized calling service orenhanced feature. For example, for an enhanced calling feature requiringthe capabilities of the IP device 54, the return message from the SCP 48may include instructions for the SSP switch 32 to route the call to theIP device 54. In addition, the return message from the SCP 48 may simplybe an indication that there is no entry in the database 52 thatindicates anything other than conventional telephone service should beprovided for the call. The query and return messages may be formatted,for example, according to conventional SS7 TCAP (TransactionCapabilities Application Part) formats. U.S. Pat. No. 5,438,568, whichis incorporated herein by reference, discloses additional detailsregarding the functioning of an AIN 30.

The AIN 30 illustrated in FIG. 3 includes only one STP 44, one SCP 48,one network database 52, and one IP device 54, although the AIN 30 mayfurther include an additional number of these components as well asother network components which not are included in FIG. 3 for purposesof clarity. For example, the AIN 30 may additionally include redundantSTPs and STPs to take over if the STP 44 or the SCP 48 should fail. Inaddition, the AIN 30 may include an Automatic Electronic SwitchingSystem (AESS) Network Access Point (NAP) in communication with the STP44, which may be programmed to detect the trigger conditions. Further,the AIN 30 may include regional STPs and regional SCPs in communicationwith, for example, the local STP 44, for routing and servicing callsbetween different LECs.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the IP device 54 according to oneembodiment of the present invention. The IP device 54 includes theapparatus 10 described hereinbefore for phonetically screeningpredetermined character strings. In addition, the IP device 54 mayinclude a call processing module 60 for receiving call processingcommands and performing conventional call processing logic. The IPdevice 54 may also include a DTMF decoder module 62 for recognizing thedialing of Dual Tone MultiFrequency (DTMF) characters from, for example,a touch-tone telephone in communication with the IP device 54 via theAIN 30. The modules 12, 14, 60, 62 permit the IP device 54 to mediateinteraction between the caller and the applications executed by the IPdevice 54 in providing enhanced calling features for a customer, asdescribed hereinbelow.

The modules 12, 14, 60, 62 may be implemented as software code to beexecuted by the IP device 54 using any type of computer instruction typesuitable such as, for example, microcode, and can be stored in, forexample, an electrically erasable programmable read only memory(EEPROM), or can be configured into the logic of the IP device 54.According to another embodiment, the modules 12, 14, 60, 62 may beimplemented as software code to be executed by the IP device 54 usingany suitable computer language such as, for example, Java, C or C++using, for example, conventional or object-oriented techniques. Thesoftware code may be stored as a series of instructions or commands on acomputer readable medium, such as a random access memory (RAM), a readonly memory (ROM), a magnetic medium such as a hard-drive or a floppydisk, or an optical medium such as a CD-ROM.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a network 70 according to one embodiment ofthe present invention. The network 70 includes the AIN 30 illustrated inFIG. 3, including the SSP switch 32, the STP 44, the SCP 48, and the IPdevice 54. For clarity, only one SSP switch 32, one STP 44, one SCP 48,and one IP device 54 are shown in FIG. 5 although, as discussedhereinbefore, the AIN 30 may include a multiple number of thesecomponents.

The network 70 also includes a wireless network 72 in communication withthe AIN 30 via a tandem office 74. The wireless network 72 includes aMobile Switching Center (MSC) 76, a Home Location Register (HLR) 78, aVisitor Location Register (VLR) 79, and a Service Control Point (SCP) 80with an associated database 82. The MSC 76, HLR 78, VLR 79 and SCP 80 ofthe wireless network 72 may provide an intelligent wireless networkcapable of providing enhanced calling services and features for wirelesssubscribers, and which is the wireless complement to the landline-basedAIN 30. According to one embodiment, the intelligent wireless network 72may be a Wireless Intelligent Network (WIN), such as used in TDMA-basedwireless networks, or a CAMEL network, such as used in CDMA-basedwireless networks.

The tandem office 74 provides a switching interface between the PSTN andthe wireless network 72. The tandem office 74 is in communication withthe MSC 76 of the wireless network 72 via a communications link 84employing, for example, an IS41 signaling protocol. The tandem office 74may be in communication with the SSP switch 32 of the AIN 30 via acommunications link 86, such as a trunk circuit. The tandem office 74may also be in communication with the STP 44 of the AIN 30 via acommunications link 88 employing, for example, an SS7 signalingprotocol.

The MSC 76 is in communication with wireless telecommunications devices,such as the wireless telephone 90 via, for example, a base transceiverstation (BTS) (not shown). The BTS may communicate with wirelesstelecommunications devices, such as the wireless telephone 90, accordingto an air-interface communication scheme such as, for example, AMPS(ANSI-553), TDMA (IS-136), CDMA (IS-95), or GSM. The BTS may be incommunication with the MSC 76 via, for example, an ISDN or SS7communications link. The MSC 76 is an automatic switching system in awireless telecommunications network that acts as the interface forsubscriber traffic between the wireless network 72 and the PSTN or otherMSCs in the same or other wireless networks. The MSC 76 performs thesame general function as a central office switch in a landline basedsystem, except that the MSC 76 provides for incoming calls through aradio telecommunications front-end. Accordingly, the MSC 76 may includeSSP switches (not shown) for detecting, for example, originating andterminating triggers.

The MSC 76 is in communication with the HLR 78 and the VLR 79 viacommunications links 92 which may, for example, be SS7 signalingprotocol links. The HLR 78 and VLR 79 are location registers to whichthe user identity of a wireless telecommunications device, such as thewireless telephone 90, is assigned for record purposes. If the wirelesstelephone 90 is within its home location, the HLR 78 is assigned forrecord purposes. Conversely, if the wireless telephone 90 is in avisitor location, the VLR 79 is assigned for record purposes. The HLR 78and VLR 79 may register subscriber information relating to the wirelesstelecommunications devices such as, for example, profile information,current location, and authorization period. When the MSC 76 detects awireless telecommunications device entering the MSC's service area, theMSC 76 performs a registration process that includes requestingsubscriber profile information from either the HLR 78 or the VLR 79depending upon, as discussed hereinbefore, whether the wirelesstelephone 90 is within its home location or within a visitor location.The HLR 78 and VLR 79 may, or may not, be located within and beindistinguishable from the MSC 76, and may be distributed over more thanone physical entity. In addition, one HLR 78 and one VLR 79 may servemore than one MSC 76.

The SCP 80 of the wireless network 72 is similar to the SCP 48 of theAIN 30, and contains the logic, which in conjunction with the networkdata stored in the associated database 82, is used to provide theenhanced calling services and features for wireless subscribers. The SCP80 is in communication with the MSC 76 via a communications link 94,which may be, for example, an SS7 signaling protocol link. The SCP 80receives query messages from the MSC 76, which may be routed through theMSC 76 from other network elements, and responds to the query, asdescribed hereinbefore with respect to the SCP 48 of the AIN 30, in amanner appropriate to the query in the context of the enhanced callingservice or feature. For example, the SCP 80 may return a message to theMSC 76 to route a communication to the IP device 54 via the tandemoffice 74 and the SSP switch 32.

The tandem office 74 may also provide a switching interface between theAIN 30 and another LEC central office (CO) 96. The LEC CO 96 may be acentral office switch for the same LEC as the AIN 30, or the LEC CO 96may be a central office switch for another LEC. The LEC CO 96 mayinclude an SSP switch, and may be in communication with a landlinetelephone 97 via a subscriber line 98. The LEC CO 96 may be incommunication with the tandem office 74 via a communications link 99,which may be, for example, a trunk circuit.

The communications network 70 of the present invention may be utilizedto provide enhanced calling features and services with phoneticscreening capabilities, as described hereinbelow. Although thetelephones 42, 90, and 97 are illustrated as the pieces of terminatingequipment, those skilled in the art will understand that such pieces mayalso include other telecommunication units or devices such as, forexample, facsimile machines, computers, and modems. The term “callingparty” is used herein generally to refer to the person or device thatinitiates a communication. The calling party may also be referred toherein as “caller.” In some cases, the calling party may not be aperson, but may be a device such as a telecommunications deviceincluding a facsimile machine, answering service, modem, etc. The term“called party” is used herein generally to refer to the person or devicethat answers or responds to the call or communication. The term“subscriber” is used herein to generally refer to a subscriber of theone of the described calling features or services. The called party neednot necessarily be the subscriber of a service, nor the party whom thecaller is trying to reach. The term “communication” is used herein toinclude all messages or calls that may be exchanged between a callingparty and a called party in the network 70 illustrated in FIG. 6,including voice, data and video messages. The term “communication” isused synonymously herein with the term “call” unless a distinction isnoted.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of how the network70 may be utilized to provide the talking call waiting (TCW) servicewith phonetic screening capabilities. The process starts at block 100,with a calling party placing a call to a called party who is already ona call with a third party. With reference to FIG. 5, for the purposes ofthe illustrated embodiment, the calling party is a user of the wirelesstelephone 90 or the landline telephone 97, and the called party is auser of the landline telephone 42, although according to otherembodiments, as described hereinbelow, the called party may be a user ofthe wireless telephone 90. Calls from either the wireless telephone 90or the landline telephone 97 are routed to the SSP switch 32 of the AIN30 via the tandem office 74 according to conventional call processing. Aterminating trigger at the SSP switch 32 specific to the TCW service isdetected, causing the SSP switch 32 to send a query message to the SCP48 at block 102. The query message may be, for example, a terminatingattempt trigger (TAT) query message.

At block 104, in response to the query message from the SSP switch 32,the SCP 48 may interrogate the network database 52 to retrieve thecustomer name of the calling party. As discussed hereinbefore, thecustomer name retrieved from the network database 52 may includetruncated character strings of the full customer name which, in theirabbreviated form, may be inappropriate for enunciation to the calledparty.

From block 104 the process advances to block 106, where the SCP 48returns a message to the SSP switch 32 to route the call to the IPdevice 54 with a message field including the customer name of thecalling party retrieved from the database. At block 108, the phoneticscreening module 12 of the IP device 54 compares each of the characterstrings in the customer name of the calling party with entries in itstable of phonetically inappropriate character strings. If there is apositive match a block 110, the process advances to block 112, where thephonetic screening module 10 replaces the detected phoneticallyinappropriate character strings with its corresponding substitutereplacement string. Conversely, if no matches are detected at block 110,the process advances to block 114, where none of the character stringsin the calling party customer name is replaced.

From each of blocks 112 and 114 the process advances to block 116, wherethe call processing module 60 places an outgoing call to the calledparty such that the TTS module 14 may enunciate to the called party thecharacter strings in the calling party customer name. The called partymay then be played a message using, for example, a recorded voice file,providing the called party with options as to how to route the call fromthe called party. The called party's response to the message may bedetected, for example, by the DTMF decoder module 62. Thereafter, thecall processing module 60 may apply conventional call processing logicin accordance with the called party's response.

According to other embodiments, the called party may be a user of thewireless telephone 90 and the calling party may be a user of thetelephone 42 or the telephone 97. According to such an embodiment, theserving MSC 76 may detect a terminating trigger specific to the callingname service, causing the serving MSC 76 to send a query message to theSCP 80 at block 102. As discussed hereinbefore with respect to FIG. 6,the SCP 80 may then route the call to the IP device 54 to provide theTCW service with phonetic screening capabilities according to thepresent invention.

According to another embodiment, the network 70 of FIG. 5 may beutilized to provide, for example, the audio calling name (ACN) servicewith phonetic screening capabilities. The method by which the network 70may be used to implement the ACN service is similar to the TCW servicedescribed hereinbefore with respect to FIG. 6, except that that thecalled party need not be on a call with a third party at the time thecalling party initiates the call. In addition, after enunciating to thecalled party the character strings in the customer of the calling party,the IP device 54 may play a message, for example, prompting the calledparty to either (i) accept the incoming call, (ii) reject the incomingcall, or (iii) route the incoming call to a voice messaging systemassociated with the called party. The prompting message may be stored onthe IP device 54 as a recorded voice file. The DTMF decoder module 62may then detect the called party's response to the prompting message.Thereafter, the call processing module 60 may route the call inaccordance with the called party's response. Similarly, according toother embodiments of the ACN service, the called party may be a user ofthe wireless telephone 90 and the calling party may be a user of thetelephone 42 or the telephone 97.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a method according to one embodiment forusing the network 70 of the present invention for providing the audiocall return (ACR) feature with phonetic screening functionality. Theservice will be described with reference to the network 70 illustratedin FIG. 5 wherein the called party is a user of the telephone 42,although, according to other embodiments as described hereinbelow, thecalled party may be a user of the wireless telephone 90. The processbegins at block 120, with the called party (i.e., a user of thetelephone 42), dialing a feature code specific to the automatic recallservice, such as “*69”, to learn, for example, the name and telephonenumber of an immediately previous calling party. Prior to the calledparty dialing the feature code for the automatic recall service,therefore, it is assumed that a calling party, such as from the wirelesstelephone 90 or the landline telephone 97, placed a communication to thecalled party, which was routed according to conventional call processinglogic to the SSP switch 32 servicing the called party, which storedautomatic-recall related information such as, for example, a directorynumber of the calling party and a time stamp, in a line history block ofthe SSP switch 32. By dialing the feature code for the automatic recallservice at block 120, the called party may seek to access the nameand/or telephone number of the immediately previous calling party.

From block 120, the process continues to block 122, where an originatingfeature code trigger for the automatic recall service is detected by theSSP switch 32 servicing the telephone 42. After detection of thetrigger, at block 124, the recall-related information stored in the linehistory block of the SSP switch 32 is embedded in a message, such as ina field of a TCAP message, and sent to the SCP 48. As describedhereinbefore, the automatic recall-related information may include, forexample, the directory number for the last incoming calling party and atime stamp of the communication. From block 124, the process continuesto block 126 where the SCP 48 interrogates the network database toascertain the customer name associated with the directory number of thelast incoming calling party.

Thereafter, the process may progress in a fashion similar to thatdescribed hereinbefore for TCW service described in conjunction withFIG. 6. From block 124 the process advances to block 106, where the SCP48 returns a message to the SSP switch 32 to route the call to the IPdevice 54 with a message field including the customer name of thecalling party retrieved from the database. At block 108, the phoneticscreening module 12 of the IP device 54 compares each of the characterstrings in the customer name of the calling party with entries in itstable of phonetically inappropriate character strings. If there is apositive match at block 110, the process advances to block 112, wherethe phonetic screening module 10 replaces the detected phoneticallyinappropriate character string with its corresponding substitutereplacement string. Conversely, if no matches are detected at block 110,the process advances to block 114, where none of the character stringsin the calling party customer name are replaced.

From each of blocks 112 and 114 the process advances to block 116, wherethe call processing module 60 places an outgoing call to the calledparty such that the TTS module 14 may enunciate to the called party thecharacter strings in the calling party customer name. The called partymay then be played a message using, for example, a recorded voice file,providing the called party with options as to how to route the call fromthe called party. The called party's response to the message may bedetected, for example, by the DTMF decoder module 62. Thereafter, thecall processing module 60 may apply conventional call processing logicin accordance with the called party's response.

According to other embodiments of the ACR service, as describedhereinbefore with respect to the TCW service, the called party may be auser of the wireless telephone 90 and the calling party may be a user ofthe telephone 42 or the telephone 97.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a network 200 according to another embodiment ofthe present invention. The network 200 includes a computing device 202in communication with a telecommunications device 206 via acommunications network 208. The computing device 200 may be, forexample, a personal computer, as illustrated in FIG. 8, a laptopcomputer, or a workstation. In addition, the computing device 202 mayinclude the phonetic screening apparatus 10 described hereinbefore withrespect to FIG. 1. The TTS module 14 of the apparatus 10 may be incommunication with a speaker device 16 in the telecommunications device206 via the communications network 208. The telecommunications device206 may be, for example, a wireless telephone, as illustrated in FIG. 8,a landline telephone, or any other telecommunications device including aspeaker. The communications network 208 may include, individually or incombination, a wireline network or a wireless network. According to oneembodiment, the communications network 208 may include, individually orin combination, a plain old telephone system (POTS), a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN), a wireless telephone network, the Internet, anintranet, a LAN, or a WAN, using, for example, packet-switching orcircuit-switching transmission modes.

According to such an embodiment, in an application where, for example,character strings from a text-based application running on the computingdevice 202 are voiced to a user of the telecommunications device 206,the apparatus 10, which as discussed hereinbefore may be included as acomponent of the computing device 202, may phonetically screeninappropriate character strings voice to the user of thetelecommunications device. For example, if the computing device 202includes an application which permits the voicing of e-mail messages toa user of the telecommunications device 206, the phonetic screeningmodule 12 of the apparatus 10 may phonetically screen inappropriatecharacter strings in the e-mail message.

Although the present invention has been described herein with respect tocertain embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognizethat many modifications and variations of the present invention may beimplemented. The foregoing description and the following claims areintended to cover all such modifications and variations.

1. An apparatus for phonetically screening predetermined characterstrings, comprising: a text-to-speech module; and a phonetic screeningmodule in communication with the text-to-speech module, wherein thephonetic screening module is for replacing a first character string witha second character string based on a phonetic enunciation by thetext-to-speech module of the first character string. 2-23. (Canceled)